[AccessD] OT - My union grievance

Having once been a civil service union steward ,where the union was 
hopeless and the personnel director ran everything by Queen's Regs, I 
used to sort these problems out by taking senior management for a beer.
 You are not going to win any friends by pointing out, management has 
dropped the ball by not having procedures to hand out work assignments. 
If you let the unions suggest things, you end up with situations like 
the NHS in England where hospital cleaners only clean walls up to 6 feet 
and the painters unions does the higher walls and ceilings. I would try 
to suggest some form of  remediation
where these systems are documented and help for them proceeds through 
some form of escalating responses., where management can keep track of 
personnel time required. This way you can document what work you are 
actually doing and how you saved the day by fixing that balky payroll 
Access program no one knew about. Don't bring up anything to do with job 
security otherwise all sides will start erecting fences immediately.

John Clark wrote:

>First I'd like to let you know where I am coming from. I have to be a
>union member...I work in a "closed" shop...but I am not a huge supporter
>of the union...they have their place, but they go overboard and protect
>people whom they shouldn't. I usually prefer to settle disputes by going
>to the boss and voicing my opinion. But around Xmas of this past year,
>there were many layoffs, and many more threatened. And, the majority of
>us believe this will be an annual event now. There are people out there
>doing our jobs that shouldn't be (i.e. nurses, social workers, etc.). 
>
>I recently sent a letter to our union, which basically asked them to
>send out a blanket statement to it's membership (i.e. my brothers and
>sisters in unionism), that notified them that they should not be
>performing duties of other coworkers. Three others, in my
>department...the MIS dept...liked my letter and asked if they could sign
>on to it. I adjusted the original letter to reflect their problems as
>well...they are more tech related...and sent it out. Apparently, it
>ruffled some feathers, and soon after, the union filed a grievance on
>our behalf...turns out they can do this w/out us even wanting them to do
>it.
>
>The reason that I am writing to the list, is that I want ammo for my
>hearing tomorrow. It is just an initial hearing, but I would like to
>make some solid impressions. To do this I want facts, or at least
>quality in my statements. As you all know, Access is unique in that it
>can be used by a novice office worker for simple desktop dbs, as well as
>hard core programmers pumping out intense programs, and everything in
>between. But where do you draw the line? I have said that if someone
>creates something for their own use, that is saved to their HDD (i.e. a
>tool for them to do their job), then I don't have a problem with it.
>However, if it becomes, or is to become, a tool that they whole
>department will become dependant on, and/or it is going to reside on the
>network, then it should be created and managed by the MIS department.
>
>I have gotten calls in the past, saying that, "our program is down and
>our department cannot function w/out it. We need this fixed ASAP." My
>response has been, "What program?" Departments have become dependant on
>a program that we were totally unaware of its existence. Because these
>programs are written by non-programmers, they are often difficult, if at
>all possible, to repair. And, in some cases, the person who did write
>it, no longer works for that department and therefore cannot help them.
>
>The politicians...for those of you unaware, I work for a county
>govt...have sent out requests for each employee to write a small
>paragraph, justifying our positions...I've had to do this two or three
>times. I wouldn't have so much of a problem doing this, if I was assured
>that the people doing my job were exposed here. It seems to me that if
>they have the time to do my job, there job must not be keeping them busy
>enough, and therefore maybe that is where the cuts can be made.
>
>I would appreciate an advice, input, etc. that anyone could give me
>here.
>
>Take care!
>
>John W Clark
>
>  
>